Loyalty Lost
by Clara Lockhart
Summary: FeildClan has a problem - all its toms are abandoning their Clan at night to thrill-seek and party! They come back wasted and rowdy, useless to a functioning Clan. Now a fully-fledged medicine cat, can Pepperleaf save her brother Eaglefeather's life?
1. Allegiances

**Allegiances**

**FeildClan**

**Leader **

**Rosestar** – dark ginger tabby she-cat with thorn-sharp claws and emerald eyes.

~ **Apprentice, Moonpaw**

**Deputy **

**Oakstep** – light cream tom with amber eyes.

**Medicine Cat **

**Grasspelt** – dark brown she-cat with emerald eyes.

~ **Apprentice, Pepperleaf**

**Warriors (toms and she-cats without kits) **

**Deadwish** – black tom with a twisted paw and dark blue eyes.

**Ivytail** – white she-cat with an unusually long striped tail and green eyes.

~ **Apprentice, Sandypaw**

**Fernfrost** – blue-grey she-cat with light blue eyes.

**Duskbreeze** – dark grey tabby she-cat with amber eyes.

~ **Apprentice, Redpaw**

**Shimmersun** – light ginger tabby tom with amber eyes.

**Ashstorm** – grey tom with yellow eyes.

**Eaglefeather** – dark brown tabby tom with a white underbelly and emerald eyes.

**Sharpear** – light brown tom with unusually sharp hearing.

**Oceanfoot** – blue tom with white paws and blue eyes.

**Sunheart** – golden-brown she-cat with a white underbelly and amber eyes.

~ **Apprentice, Icepaw**

**Skypelt **– light blue-grey tom with blue eyes.

**Snowsky** – fluffy white she-cat with blue eyes.

**Maplepelt **– light brown tabby she-cat with amber eyes

**Apprentices (more than six moons old, in training to become warriors)**

**Moonpaw** – grey she-cat with large blue eyes

**Sandypaw – **light cream she-cat with amber eyes

**Redpaw** – dark ginger tom with amber eyes

**Icepaw **– light grey tom with blue eyes

**Pepperleaf** – dark grey she-cat with dappled pelt and sapphire eyes, Eaglefeather's littermate

**Queens (she-cats expecting or nursing kits)**

**Lilycloud** – white she-cat with blue eyes.

**Petalfur** – ginger she-cat with white splashes and yellow eyes.

**Elders (former warriors and queens, now retired)**

**Spottedtail** – dark ginger she-cat with a speckled tail and amber eyes, mother of Rosestar.

**Cloudfur **– fluffy white tom with amber eyes.

**FoxClan**

**Leader**

**Icestar** – white tom with a bushy tail and blue eyes.

~ **Apprentice, Flamepaw**

**Deputy**

**Blackfoot** – ginger she-cat with large black paws and amber eyes.

**Medicine Cat**

**Crimsonpelt** – dark ginger tom with green eyes.

**Warriors (toms and she-cats without kits) **

**Twinkle-eye** – white tom with bright green eyes.

**Scarletnose **– light brown she-cat with a deep pink nose and blue eyes.

~ **Apprentice, Lavenderpaw**

**Brushtail **– black tom with a bushy tail and amber eyes.

**Lightpath **– white she-cat with unusually light eyes.

~ **Apprentice, Morningpaw**

**Queens (she-cats expecting or nursing kits)**

**Darkheart** – light ginger she-cat with dark amber eyes.

**Cherryblossom **– white she-cat with light ginger patches and green eyes.

**Elders (former warriors and queens, now retired)**

**Mottledfur** – dark grey tom with amber eyes.

**Fleckedflower **– black she-cat with dark grey flecks and light blue eyes.

**Cats Outside Clans**

**Aquapaw** – light grey tom with blue eyes, formerly of FeildClan.

**Redflame** – golden brown and ginger tabby tom, formerly of FeildClan.

**Titch** – ginger tabby tom with dark amber eyes – a kittypet.

**Harry** – black tom with emerald eyes, friend of Titch – a kittypet.

**Opal** – white she-cat with grey splashes and grey paws – a loner that lives just beyond FoxClan territory.

**Other Animals**

**Hero** – a yappy white dog that lives on the edge of Twolegplace.


	2. Prologue

**Prologue**

Silhouettes flitted in and out of the shadows as they raced towards a mass of black at the edge of the horizon. The night stretched out seemingly forever, foretelling of trouble to come. Yelps could be heard from the leaders – a light blue-grey tom and a dark brown tabby – as the group dashed up a grassy slope.

"Come on, Shimmersun! We're going to be late!" a light brown tabby called out.

A ginger tom piped up from the rear of the group. "Great StarClan, Sharpear! Keep your fur on." he meowed indignantly. The tabby tom twitched his whiskers in amusement.

Despite the dark, and the ever present sense of foreboding in the air, the group crashed through the forest like a family of badgers. When they reached their destination, they scrabbled through a wooden fence like eager kits.

"Titch!" the dark brown tom screeched at the top of his voice.

A feline head popped out from underneath a messily cut bush. "Eaglefeather! Skypelt! My boys! Howya doin' bro?" the ginger tabby called out, flicking his tail at them.

A grey tom and a golden tabby tom greeted them with equally ecstatic purrs, jumping out from behind the large brick house that dominated the block of overgrown land to say hello.

A blue tom with white paws stepped forward. "Titch, you brilliant cat! I never thought I would see the day…" he remarked, circling Titch.

"I couldn't leave my friends, could I now, Oceanfoot?" Titch batted Oceanfoot with his paw with sheathed claws. He looked around at the group. "Come inside. We've got the place to ourselves now."

A small dark ginger tom bounced with excitement.

Titch whisked around and pushed through the cat-flap into the brick building. Eaglefeather took the lead, and thrust his way after Titch. The other members of the group followed eagerly, including the two newcomers that had tagged along.

For the rest of that cold night, those cats yelped.

They played, they ate, they drank, they fought, they partied, and partied hard.

Those cats also broke the Warrior Code.


	3. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

Dappled light came streaming into the medicine cat den, touching the tall grass that shielded the herb stores from the view of the rest of the camp. Pepperleaf, now a fully-fledged medicine cat, blinked in the morning light.

Stretching each of her legs in turn, she tried to remember her dream from the previous night. She recalled seeing her irresponsible brother, Eaglefeather, and a few other FeildClan warriors, sprinting across the windswept plain not far from FeildClan territory. Titch, the creepy kittypet, speaking with a mischievous glint in his eye. Wild noises coming from the Twoleg nest as the night lengthened.

Pepperleaf shook her head. It had been going on for seasons. Generations of FeildClan toms jumping at the chance to risk their lives for a thrilling night. She thought sadly of her father, Reedtail, who had died one night when the group, drunk on adrenalin and catmint, decided to see if it was possible to fly off a cliff. She hung her head in despair. Reedtail had been the dominant member, the leader of rebels, and it looked like Eaglefeather had followed in his paw prints.

Pepperleaf pushed the long grass back to check her stores. The nest beside the pile of marigold was empty.

Grasspelt, Pepperleaf's mentor, had travelled to the Skyrock on her once-a-season trip to speak with StarClan about FeildClan's problem. They had tried everything. Closing off the warrior den at night, taking warrior privileges from the toms, isolating kits from the older toms, making them chant the Warrior Code every day until it was drilled into their minds. They had even exiled an apprentice and a young warrior from their Clan.

_What a loss,_ Pepperleaf thought. _They could have been great warriors._

The problem was, even though they were breaking the Warrior Code, FeildClan couldn't exile all of the offenders – they would be left exposed without the toms, for they made up most of their ranks.

The fact that most of their warriors were toms made it even harder. She-cats practically ran FeildClan. The leader, the medicine cat and the medicine cat apprentice were all she-cats. There were no mentors that weren't she-cats.

Pepperleaf decided they needed more tansy. She padded up to Oakstep, one of the few loyal toms, and asked him to organise an escort. He flicked his tail at Ivytail, a white warrior, as she dropped a thrush on the fresh-kill pile. She dismissed her apprentice, Sandypaw, and came towards the deputy.

"Escort Pepperleaf to find tansy in the forest." Oakstep meowed. "And look out for Eaglefeather and the rest of them. They might as well make themselves useful by hunting."

Ivytail dipped her head respectfully and Pepperleaf led the way out of camp and into the lush forest. "Do you know what tansy looks like, Ivytail?"

"Yes, you used it on my scratches a few moons ago," the senior warrior reminded her of when she had scratched her pelt on a bramble bush.

Pepperleaf nodded. "Try over there," She flicked her tail towards a ferny dip in the ground. Ivytail bounded over and stuck her muzzle into the ferns, scenting the moist air for any trace of the healing herb. Pepperleaf went off herself to look in amongst some shrubs.

She had barely looked over a fox-length of the ground before she heard a crashing through the undergrowth. It was either a dog, or…

Eaglefeather's triumphant face appeared through the grass. Skypelt, Eaglefeather's 'deputy' of sorts, emerged beside him. Behind him trailed Darkwish, Sharpear, Shimmersun, Oceanfoot, Ashstorm, Redpaw, Icepaw, and a bedraggled Cloudfur. All were jeering at Cloudfur, pushing and shoving him with such force that Pepperleaf stepped forward and barred the way in between the group and the white elder.

"Stop." She meowed. They ignored her.

"Get outta the way, Grassy, old cat here's been annoying us all night…" Eaglefeather's croaky words tumbled out into the morning air.

"Stop," Pepperleaf interrupted her brother's jerky attempts to dodge her to get to Cloudfur. "Stop it, Eaglefeather! You've had a bad night. Just…" now several of them were having trouble keeping upright. "Go back to camp. As your medicine cat, I order you to get up on your paws and get back to camp."

Skypelt shook his head but they all managed to drag themselves behind her as she led the way to the middle of their territory.

Ivytail bounded up as soon as she saw the sorry group. "Rough night, huh?" she remarked. Pepperleaf didn't reply.

As soon as they entered the camp, the she-cat warriors and queens stuck their heads out of their dens, rolled their eyes in frustration and went back inside.

A flash of dark ginger on the edge of Pepperleaf's vision told her that her leader, Rosestar, had decided to retreat behind the small spring that ran through the camp and that led to her den. Rosestar was sick of the toms' constant partying and adrenalin-seeking. At first, she had lectured them every morning when they had come back, but now she preferred not to even look upon them. Pepperleaf didn't blame her.

She helped Cloudfur to the elders' den and examined him. A claw was missing from his hind paw and his skin was bruised under his pelt.

A blue-grey warrior padded up to Pepperleaf. "Hey Pepperleaf." She meowed.

"Hi, Fernfrost." Pepperleaf looked up at her friend. She flicked her tail to lead her towards the medicine den. "Here. Chew these up into a poultice, can you?"

Fernfrost stabbed the herbs with her claws and started to chew them up. "Eaglefeather looked bad today," she remarked.

"When doesn't he?" Pepperleaf mumbled, flicking through a pile of leaves.

Fernfrost spat out the herb. "I mean, worse than usual."

The medicine cat apprentice nodded. "I still didn't get my tansy, thanks to them. And now I need this poultice because they injured Cloudfur."

Fernfrost gasped. "They usually don't do stuff like that,"

"Every season it gets worse," Pepperleaf reminded her. She wrapped her paw in cobwebs. She placed the poultice onto a dock leaf and carried it in her jaws to the elders' den. She rubbed it onto Cloudfur's bruises carefully, and began to wrap the elder's paw in cobwebs where his claw had been ripped out.

"How did you come to be with the group, eh, Cloudfur?" she asked him.

He took a breath in. "Well, I occasionally go out with the lads, you know, survey the scene," Pepperleaf decided that it must have been a long time ago. "And then about half way through, they gots violent, you know, not unsheathed claws like, but a bit pushy."

Pepperleaf nodded as she finished wrapping his paw. "Thank you, darling. Don't know how we would cope whith'ou you."

Pepperleaf said her goodbyes as she pushed out of the entrance and into the sunlight.

There was a commotion near the entrance to the camp. Grasspelt and Duskbreeze, a dark grey tabby warrior, had returned from the Skyrock. Ivytail, Sunheart and Moonpaw greeted them as they entered. Grasspelt left Duskbreeze to talk with them as she flicked her tail towards Pepperleaf.

_We need to talk._


	4. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Pepperleaf blinked. Had Grasspelt received guidance from StarClan? Had they an answer to their problem?

Pepperleaf followed her mentor behind the spring and into Rosestar's den. Dawnbreeze stayed outside. Inside the den it was surprisingly dry, considering the amount of water that trickled down the rocks around the entrance. Rosestar lay at one end, tucking into a vole. She sat up when she spied her medicine cats at the entrance.

"Come in, come in," she called. Once they had settled she mewed, "Any news from StarClan?"

Grasspelt kept her steady gaze on her leader. "No, Rosestar. Nothing."

Rosestar's tail flicked in frustration.

Pepperleaf piped up. "The group came back with Cloudfur this time. They bruised him and one of his claws had been ripped out. I treated him just before you came." She nodded towards her mentor.

"It's getting worse every season," Rosestar sighed exasperatedly.

Pepperleaf nodded. "That's exactly what I told Fernfrost earlier."

"So the question is," Grasspelt meowed. "How do we stop it?"

Rosestar stared at the ground, sadness in her eyes. Pepperleaf shook her head. If Rosestar didn't have an answer, then who ever could? Then an idea hit her.

"You know how the Warrior Code tells young warriors to sit vigil on the night of their naming ceremony?" she meowed excitedly.

"Yes…?" Grasspelt prompted.

"We've already tried forcing vigils on them, remember?" Rosestar reminded her. "And it didn't work."

Pepperleaf's tail drooped. Just as she was so close.

"Actually," Grasspelt meowed, straightening up. "I think you might just be onto something there, Pepperleaf."

"No, no. I should never have suggested it," Pepperleaf mumbled.

But this didn't faze Grasspelt. She sat up tall. "This is bigger than the story behind the Warrior Code, right?"

"Why is that?" Rosestar flicked an ear in her direction, intrigued.

"Because what they tried didn't work for us, right?" Grasspelt continued, her emerald eyes flicking from her leader to her apprentice.

"Right…" Pepperleaf had no idea where this was going.

"So why don't we give them a taste of their own medicine, eh?" Grasspelt's eyes sparkled.

Pepperleaf was shocked. "We can't just abandon the Clan!"

Rosestar agreed, "I'm sorry Grasspelt, but I'm afraid Pepperleaf is right. The Clan needs us, now more than ever."

"But maybe we don't have to abandon the Clan…" Grasspelt meowed mysteriously. Rosestar and Pepperleaf leaned in to listen to her plan.


End file.
